摘要：In 2010, Canada became the first jurisdiction in the world to prohibit Bisphenol A (BPA) in a range of products including infant feeding bottles.1 Since that time, the European Union has moved to ban BPA in other materials that come into contact with food and are intended for infants and young children.2 These jurisdictional differences reflect the ongoing development of scientific knowledge, as well as the controversies that continue to rage within the scientific community, industry, regulatory agencies, and civil society regarding BPA and other substances that act on the endocrine system. These substances mimic naturally produced hormones, and in many cases have been associated with negative health outcomes.3 Given the great importance of the endocrine system to humans and other species, the presence in organisms and ecosystems of substances that interfere with this system is cause for alarm. However, many such substances are used therapeutically, including vitamins and the birth control pill.4 The term endocrine disrupting chemical, or EDC, is generally used to refer to chemicals that generate negative health outcomes by interfering with the actions of hormones;5 this is the meaning that we adopt. We focus on known or suspected EDCs, that is, chemicals whose impact on the endocrine system is or may be harmful.
